Trump admin to expand foreign aid abortion ban to gender identity and DEI

Driving the news: In January 2025, President Trump reinstated the "Mexico City" policy, which cuts off U.S. global health funding to international organizations that provide legal abortion information, referrals or services.

• The new rule uses the same policy toward groups that work with what the Trump administration calls "gender ideology," "discriminatory equity ideology" and DEI.

What they're saying: "We're going to start blocking every international GO that performs or promotes abortion abroad from receiving a dollar of U.S. money," Vance said during a March for Life event in Washington, D.C.

• He said the policy expansion "to protect life, to combat DEI" and "radical gender ideologies" would pertain to "every non-military foreign assistance that America sends," amounting to a policy expansion that is "about three times as big as it was before."
• A State Department spokesperson said in a Thursday statement, "President Trump continues to deliver on his promise to end woke foreign assistance."

The other side: Amy Friedrich-Karnik, Guttmacher Institute director of federal policy, said in a statement, "This policy exports harsh US abortion bans and ideologically driven mandates to countries around the world, interventions that also threaten a range of health services and equity initiatives."

• Anu Kumar, president and CEO of reproductive rights NGO Ipas, said the policy is "regressive" and "harmful."

The policy was first established under President Ronald Reagan in 1984. It has been rescinded and reinstated by subsequent administrations along party lines.

Go deeper: Trump reinstates "Mexico City" policy on abortion